Fight Back! interviews economics professor Masao Suzuki

An interview with Masao Suzuki

Masao Suzuki is a leading member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) who follows the economy. Fight Back! interviewed him on March 1, after another drop in U.S. stock market.

To mark the anniversary of the publication of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, on Feb. 21, 1848, Fight Back! is reprinting the book’s first chapter. This anniversary comes in the context of a growing rejection of capitalism and a renewed interest in the science of revolution, Marxism-Leninism. Enjoy. Chapter I. Bourgeois and Proletarians

Tampa, FL – Hurricanes are a common experience to most Floridians, especially to residents of the Tampa Bay area, where hurricanes and tropical storms hit or brush by about every two years. However, Category 4 Hurricane Irma, which is now projected to move up the center of the state, is making some of the most seasoned Floridians panic.

Dallas, TX – As of Thursday evening, August 31, most gas stations in the greater Dallas area are out of gasoline. Those that still have fuel are charging as much as triple the usual price.

Tucson, AZ – The Tucson Anti-War Committee has called for an emergency rally on Thursday July 27, at 5 p.m. at the Federal Building located at 300 W Congress Street. This is organized to tell the Trump administration and U.S. Senators like Marco Rubio: “Hands off Venezuela! No sanctions!”

San José, CA – On May 24, Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury and former Wall Street investment banker for Goldman Sachs, urged Congress to raise the federal debt limit before they go on break July 28. The U.S. Treasury first bumped up against the maximum that the U.S. government can borrow back in March, and has been continuing to borrow by using accounting measures.

St. Paul, MN – More than 100 people rallied at Leif Erickson Park, near the Capitol Green Line Light Rail station, May 16, to voice their opposition to proposed public transit budget cuts and fare hikes. The rally was organized by the Transportation Forward Coalition who has been promoting resistance to Republican budget proposals at the Minnesota state legislature.

Tampa, FL – On the morning of April 7, President Trump ordered the U.S. military to attack Syria, firing over 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syrian government targets near Homs, Syria’s third largest city. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that only 23 of 59 missiles struck intended targets, with the majority assaulting nearby villages. Syrian media sources are reporting at least nine civilians died in the attack, including four children.

On Jan. 23, President Donald Trump signed an executive action withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Negotiated by then-president Barack Obama, the TPP would have standardized trade between the U.S., Japan, Mexico, and nine other countries in the Pacific Rim, lowering tariffs and regulations between countries to favor corporations. The agreement drew heavy criticism from labor unions and environmental groups, who argued the TPP would hurt workers and hamper efforts to address climate change.

While Donald Trump claims to be for the working man, his tax proposal is just another Republican tax cut for the rich and big business. The biggest single tax break would be for corporations, whose tax rate would be cut from 35% to 15%. This and other tax cuts for corporations and other businesses would cut federal tax revenue by about $4.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years, or about $450 billion dollars a year. This would mainly benefit the top 1%, who own about half of corporate and business wealth and other high-income individuals who could change their tax status to be a business.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the text of a speech by a leader of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Fernando Figueroa, which was delivered shortly before the July 18 march on the RNC in Cleveland, OH.

As things stand, billionaire and bigot Donald Trump will be the Republican standard bearer for the presidency. In many ways he is a symbol of everything that is wrong with this country. He is a tireless promoter of racist anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim attacks. He is a misogynist, who defends the oppression of women. Trump spreads the gospel of ‘greed is good’ while pretending to be a friend of the working person. He is a right-wing populist with only one redeeming feature – that, barring some big change, he is unelectable.

To mark the May 5, 1818 birthday of Karl Marx, Fight Back News Service is circulating a famous work he authored in 1859, the Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

Patras, Greece – The first day of the big March Against Unemployment, which will travel 220 km from Patras to Athens concluded with enormous success on April 4.

Report shows rising income inequality while maintaining myth of the middle class – Commentary by Masao Suzuki

San José, CA – In December of 2015 the Pew Research Center released a report on the decline in middle-income Americans, who now make up a minority of the population, down from 60% in the 1970s. Their share of income has fallen even more, from more than 60% in the 1970s to only 43% in 2014, as upper-income households share has risen from 30% to 49% over the same period of time. The Pew report also has other important information on wealth, debt, occupation and education, which were generally not reported in the mainstream corporate media.

Houston, TX – Over 20 activists protested outside of Wal-Mart in Memorial Heights, Nov. 27, to stand with low-wage workers in their struggle to for a $15 wage, health benefits and a pension. Wal-Mart is one of the most exploitative companies in the U.S. It pays its workers almost nothing, provides them with few benefits and makes them work under the constant threat of being fired. The protest was organized by the National Organization for Women (NOW), which organizes the demonstration each year on Black Friday.

Problems around the world hit U.S. economy

San José, CA – On Oct. 2, the Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy created only 142,000 net new jobs in September. This was in much less than the 200,000-plus jobs that mainstream economists expected. Even worse, the Labor Department reported that their revised estimates for July and August turned out to be 59,000 fewer new jobs than originally reported.

San José, CA – In May of 2015, the official unemployment rate was 5.5%, close to the 5.0% rate in December 2007 when the last recession began. But despite what appears to be a recovery in the labor market, wages continue to rise at a very slow rate while profits have soared. In fact, businesses used the recession to continue their restructuring of the labor market in their interests, to the detriment of those who have to work for a living.

San Jose, CA – En mayo de 2015, la tasa oficial de desempleo fue de 5.5 %, bastante cerca a la tasa del 5.0% que existía cuando comenzó la última recesión en diciembre del 2007. Sin embargo, a pesar de la aparente recuperación del mercado laboral, los salarios continúan aumentando a un ritmo sumamente lento, mientras que las ganancias se han disparado de forma exponencial. De hecho, para el detrimento de aquellos que tienen que trabajar para sobrevivir, las empresas han utilizado la recesión para impulsar la reestructuración del mercado laboral en beneficio de sus intereses.